By Michael Letendre

MANCHESTER – If you’re on the road in scholastic football, knocking out your opponent early is the way to go.

And the Bristol Eastern football squad threw two quick haymakers at East Catholic on Thursday night – scoring on its first drive and then turned around, forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and scored once again – as the Lancers sank the Eagles by a 38-18 push from the turf at Cheney Tech High School in a Central Connecticut Conference Tier 3/Tier 4 challenge.  

Eastern (3-3), coming off the bye week with zest, led 12-0 in the opening stages of the second stanza as the Eagles (1-5) were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way.

“We started fast which is what we wanted to do coming out of the bye week,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius. ‘We kept our foot on the gas.”

And the night belonged to back Alex Marshall as the senior stud belted the Eagles for 220 yards on 27 carries – adding four touchdowns to his ever-growing tally – as the rusher simply could not be stopped.

And just on his fifth carry of the showdown, he earned his 1,000th yard and has amassed 1,189 on the campaign.

But he wasn’t the only show in town as Josh Aubin (five carries, 69 yards, TD) and Rayshon Andrews (3-71, TD) both added rushing touchdowns over a tremendous ground attack.

Brady Brown dished up 48 yards on eight carries and, combined with a couple tosses from QB Kamden Laprise (2-for-3, 22 yards), the team nabbed a season-high 427 yards of total offense – 405 of that coming on the ground over a vicious rushing onslaught. 

“[Marshall] sets the tempo on offense but what was really nice to see tonight was our other parts of our offense really come alive,” said Julius. “We saw some really good things out of Brady Brown today. We did some really good things from Rayshon Andrews. The offensive line did a really, really good job and then our real unsung heroes in all this was our wide receivers blocking.”

“Jeremy Kolloverja down the field is one of the better stop blockers I’ve ever coached. [He’s] unselfish and that’s why we had lot of those long runs.”

Catholic managed to post 194 yards of offense but Brown and Austin Shorette drew sacks on elusive quarterback Mat Zazzaro (11-for-22, 57 yards, two TDs) while Brown, Malik Sherrill, and Adam Zavecz drew tackles for losses.

After a quick three and out by the Eagles to start the contest, Eastern went right to work offensively.

The Lancers churned up chunks of clock over a 16 play, 69-yard drive that went over nine minutes in duration.

Marshall and Brown made big carries to get into the Catholic red zone and on the final play of the set, Eastern’s newest 1,000-yard rusher sprinted into the goal for a two-yard TD and as the Kingstreeters led 6-0.

And on the ensuing Eastern kickoff, Aubin forced a fumble on the return and when the Lancers recovered the ball, the visiting aggression went on the attack from the East Catholic 46.

This time around, it took only three plays to score as Marshall blazed a 44-yard path of destruction and off his second rushing touchdown, Eastern nabbed a 12-0 edge with 11:49 remaining in the first half.

Credit the Eagles as the squad turned around to score on an eleven-drive gambit, netting a 27-yard field goal from Ethan Rainha as the home squad put a 12-3 dent on the scoreboard with 6:37 remaining in the second stanza.

Eastern answered over another 69-yard march and this time, Marshall went up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown score, helping his squad secure an 18-3 push.

But Catholic hung around to end the half with another touchdown, going eight plays over 60 yards, punctuated by a one-yard TD reception from Ben Carso and with 31 seconds left before the break, the Eagles chopped the deficit to 18-10 and were down by just a single possession.

However, to open the third period, it would take only one play to make it a two-score game again.

“We let them close the gap on us a little bit at halftime,’ said Julius. “But the kids really responded at halftime. They did a really nice job. Credit to the kids. They did a really outstanding job tonight.”

On the first play of the third tilt, Andrews was handed the ball and the speedster made a mad dash down the Eastern sideline for a career-high 65 yard rush, resulting in another six points and when Marshall ran the ball in for two points with 11:42 to play in the third, it was a 26-10 game in favor of the Lancers.

It would be the first of three straight scores by Eastern as the visitor’s defense was just too much for the Eagles to handle.

Rainha then flubbed a 24-yard field goal, watching his attempt bounce off the right goal post and out as Eastern took its 16-point edge into the final period of play.

Off an Eastern punt and East Catholic turnover, Marshall scored his fourth touchdown of the game with 8:33 to play, zipping into the Eagles’ goal via a seven-yard touchdown plunge, and it was all Eastern at 32-10.

Another turnover on downs by Catholic saw Aubin take over the rushing game for Eastern.

And off a tremendous 53-yard sprint, Aubin’s career high, he eventually ran the ball in for his first rushing TD, a slick one-yard jaunt, and with 4:07 to go, the Lancers had a season-high in points, leading 38-10.

To end the game, Zazzaro found Colin Heslin for a 17-yard touchdown strike but with 3:11 left, the home team trailed 38-18 as time was all but gone.

Eastern then ran out the clock to end the event as the Lancers got back to the pay window in style with the 20-point victory over East Catholic to get back to .500 on the campaign.

“Definitely coming off the bye was a big thing for us to get back on track and get ourselves back to .500 and kind restart our season,” said Julius. “The kids, we got healthy over the bye week for the most part and we came out and really responded. I’m super proud of the kids and I’m happy for them and I hope we keep this momentum rolling.”

Bristol Eastern Football

Central Connecticut Conference Tier 3/Tier 4 Football Challenge

BRISTOL EASTERN 38, EAST CATHOLIC 18

from Cheney Tech high school

Bristol Eastern (3-3) 6 12 8 12 – 38

East Catholic (1-5) 0 10 0 8 – 18

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period

BE – Alex Marshall 2 run (kick failed), 1:29

Second Period

BE – Alex Marshall 44 run (kick failed), 11:49

EC – Ethan Rainha 27 field goal, 6:37

BE – Alex Marshall 11 run (run failed), 3:35

EC – Ben Carso 1 pass by Mat Zazzaro (Rainha kick), 0:31

Third Period

BE – Rayshon Andrews 65 run (Marshall run), 11:42

Fourth Period

BE – Alex Marshall 7 run (kick failed), 8:33 

BE – Josh Aubin 1 run (kick failed), 4:07

EC – Colin Heslin 17 pass by Zazzaro (Zazzaro run), 3:11

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing – Bristol Eastern: Brady Brown 0-for-1, Kamden Laprise 2-for-3, 22 yards; East Catholic: Mat Zazzaro 11-for-22, 57 yards, Thomas Stanley 1-for-1, 30 yards.

Rushing – Bristol Eastern: Alex Marshall 27-220, Brady Brown 8-48, Rayshon Andrews 3-71, Josh Aubin 5-69, Kamden Laprise 2-(minus-3); East Catholic: Thomas Stanley 8-26, Mat Zazzaro 5-48, Jack O’Connor 7-19, Benjamin Carso 1-14.

Receiving – Bristol Eastern: Rayshon Andrews 1-14, Alex Marshall 1-8; East Catholic: Benjamin Carso 7-55, Colin Heslin 2-19, Thomas Stanley 1-4, Jack O’Connor 1-(-minus-4), Aiden Mateo 1-13.